'Big Shiny Tunes' Toasted for 'A Big Shiny Legacy' in Upcoming Book

The old Big Shiny Tunes compilations are about to be celebrated in a big shiny book. Well, truthfully we don't know how many pages will be in music journalist Mark Teo's forthcoming A Big Shiny Legacy, nor exactly how shiny the cover will be, but the author's upcoming tome will discuss the impact of the since-shuttered Canadian CD series.

A press release explains that the book is due in the spring of 2016 via Eternal Cavalier Press. The focus will be put on the first entry of the series, which was released back in 1996. Described as the start of "one of Canada's unlikeliest success stories," the collection placed singles from Canadian "alt-rock heroes" like Sloan, Limblifter and Pluto alongside global forces like the Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson and Beck.

The set was the first of 14 volumes in the Big Shiny Tunes series, which has cumulatively sold over five million copies. The final Big Shiny Tunes was issued in 2009.

Teo's tome argues that Big Shiny Tunes was a gateway record for many, and has since "left a massive cultural imprint, one that can be found in cover bands, tribute nights, YouTube playlists and used record bins from coast to coast, too."

A Big Shiny Legacy will apparently analyze the origins of the Much Music-backed series, offer track-by-track explorations, and ponder the "era of the compilation." The book will also feature interviews with people associated with the making of the records, though it's as-yet unclear who that entails.

Teo is the content editor for the Toronto Star's Star Touch, and has written for the likes of Exclaim!, Aux, Weird Canada, FFWD and more.